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62.
The Earlier Influence of Christianity on the Vocabulary.
From the introduction of Christianity in 597 to the close of the Old English period is a
stretch of more than 500 years. During all this time Latin words must have been making
their way gradually into the English language. It is likely that the first wave of religious
feeling that resulted from the missionary zeal of the seventh century, and that is reflected
in intense activity in church building and the establishing of monasteries during this
century, was responsible also for the rapid importation of Latin words into the
vocabulary. The many new conceptions that followed in the train of the new religion
would naturally demand expression and would at times find the resources of the language
inadequate. But it would be a mistake to think that the enrichment of the vocabulary that
now took place occurred overnight. Some words came in almost immediately, others only
at the end of this period. In fact, it is fairly easy to divide the Latin borrowings of the
Second Period into two groups, more or less equal in size but quite different in character.
The one group represents words whose phonetic form shows that they were borrowed
early and whose early adoption is attested also by the fact that they had found their way
into literature by the time of Alfred. The other contains words of a more learned character
first recorded in the tenth and eleventh centuries and owing their introduction clearly to
Foreign influences on old english 77
the religious revival that accompanied the Benedictine Reform. It will be well to consider
them separately.
It is obvious that the most typical as well as the most numerous class of words
introduced by the new religion would have to do with that religion and the details of its
external organization. Words are generally taken over by one language from another in
answer to a definite need. They are adopted because they express ideas that are new or
because they are so intimately associated with an object or a concept that acceptance of
the thing involves acceptance also of the word. A few words relating to Christianity such
as
church
and
bishop
were, as we have seen, borrowed earlier. The Anglo-Saxons had
doubtless plundered churches and come in contact with bishops before they came to
England. But the great majority of words in Old English having to do with the church and
its services, its physical fabric and its ministers, when not of native origin were borrowed
at this time. Because most of these words have survived in only slightly altered form in
Modern English, the examples may be given in their modern form. The list includes
abbot, alms, altar, angel, anthem, Arian, ark, candle, canon, chalice, cleric, cowl,
deacon, disciple, epistle, hymn, litany, manna, martyr, mass, minster, noon, nun, offer,
organ, pall, palm, pope, priest, provost, psalm, psalter, relic, rule, shrift, shrine, shrive,
stole, subdeacon, synod, temple,
and
tunic
. Some of these were reintroduced later. But the
church also exercised a profound influence on the domestic life of the people. This is
seen in the adoption of many words, such as the names of articles of clothing and
household use—
cap, sock, silk, purple, chest, mat, sack;
9
words denoting foods, such as
beet, caul
(cabbage),
lentil
(OE
lent
),
millet
(OE
mil
),
pear, radish, doe, oyster
(OE
ostre
),
lobster, mussel,
to which we may add the noun
cook;
10
names of trees, plants, and
herbs (often cultivated for their medicinal properties), such as
box, pine,
11
aloes, balsam,
fennel, hyssop, lily, mallow, marshmallow, myrrh, rue, savory
(OE
sæþrige
), and the
general word
plant
. A certain number of words having to do with education and learning
reflect another aspect of the church’s influence. Such are
school, master, Latin
(possibly
an earlier borrowing),
grammatic(al), verse, meter, gloss, notary
(a scribe). Finally we
may mention a number of words too miscellaneous to admit of profitable classification,
like
anchor, coulter, fan
(for winnowing),
fever, place
(cf.
marketplace
),
spelter
(asphalt),
sponge, elephant, phoenix, mancus
(a coin), and some more or less learned or
literary words, such as
calend, circle, legion, giant, consul,
and
talent
. The words cited in
these examples are mostly nouns, but Old English borrowed also a number of verbs and
adjectives such as
ā
spendan
(to spend; L.
expendere
),
bem
ū
tian
(to exchange; L.
m
ū
t
ā
re
),
dihtan
(to compose; L.
dict
ā
re
)
p
ī
nian
(to torture; L.
poena
),
pinsian
(to weigh; L.
p
ē
ns
ā
re
),
pyngan
(to prick; L.
pungere
),
sealtian
(to dance; L.
salt
ā
re
),
temprian
(to
temper; L.
temper
ā
re
),
trifolian
(to grind; L.
tr
ī
bul
ā
re
),
tyrnan
(to turn; L.
torn
ā
re
), and
crisp
(L.
crispus,
‘curly’). But enough has been said to indicate the extent and variety of
the borrowings from Latin in the early days
9
Other words of this sort, which have not survived in Modern English, are
cemes
(shirt),
swiftlere
(slipper),
s
ū
tere
(shoemaker),
byden
(tub, bushel),
bytt
(leather bottle),
c
ē
ac
(jug),
læfel
(cup),
orc
(pitcher), and
(blanket, rug).
10
Cf. also OE
c
ī
epe
(onion, L.
c
ē
pa
),
(turnip, L.
n
ā
pus
),
sigle
(rye, V.L.
sigale
).
11
Also
sæppe
(spruce-fir),
m
ō
rb
ē
am
(mulberry tree).
A history of the english language 78
of Christianity in England and to show how quickly the language reflected the broadened
horizon that the English people owed to the church.
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